Darejunkies Is A Social Networking Site For Jackasses

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The show Jackass used to have “do not try this at home” disclaimers before every episode because too many idiots would in fact “try this at home.” A new Web site that launches today called Darejunkies is a full supporter of “try this at home.”

Darejunkies is a social networking site that allows users to create and compete in dares with a prize incentive. The site went live today and I was given the first login. It is stoooopid, which means it will probably be a hit.

Go to Darejunkies and you’ll find challenges listed by categories such as dating, embarrassment, food, etc. There are challenges like wrap yourself in peanut butter and go to a dog park, or get your grandma to tell you something embarrassing. Once you find a challenge that you think you can complete in the most amusing way, you accept.

Once you’ve filmed your challenge, you can upload it onto the site and compete with all other versions of that challenge. Users vote on the best video. Contestants are eligible for prize money every month. This month, ten winners will split a pot of $5,000. Next month, the company ups the ante to $7,500, and every month after that, it will award $10,000.

“The idea here is that it’s videos with a purpose,” said Ben Bacal, CEO of Darejunkies. “So people can grab their camera and go, ‘What do I shoot?’ Then they go to the site, find something they think they can shoot, and have some direction. We all know that every good TV pilot has a blue print.”

Darejunkies was smart enough to think ahead in terms of legally covering their behinds. You can’t just go to the site and post a challenge to get everyone to cover themselves in butter and slide down a roof. You can submit a challenge for review by the Darejunkies legal board, who will then decide which ones make it to the site.

Darejunkies has all the social networking elements: user profiles, relationships, etc. I’m not sure it’s the smartest thing in the world to let people who are prone to taking dares to socially network. I can hear my mom lecturing me about bad association right now.

So how do you make money on idiotic skits? Sponsored challenges, of course.

“Product-placement challenges is a way of bringing in advertisers into our challenges,” said Daron Niemerow, president of Darejunkies. “So we can have say, a Pepsi challenge like drink a can of Pepsi and give us your biggest burp. We’re also thinking about the Best-Of DVDs like Jackass or Girls Gone Wild for stuff that can’t make it on the Web site.”